The 128 Best Post Apocalyptic Books

Beginner's guide
Written By Ryan Law

From nuclear armageddon to bio-engineered super plague, humanity has a timeless fascination with the end of the world.

Since the golden age of post apocalyptic fiction in the 1950’s, the literary landscape has grown darker and more bleak by the year; and fans of all things post apocalyptic now have an incredible selection of plagues, explosions and invasions to choose from.

To help you choose between a massive selection of post apocalyptic books, I’ve scoured the web, my own bookshelves, and even something called a library, in order to bring you a selection of the 50 best post apocalyptic books ever written. I’ve included some of the genre’s most revered stories, alongside some seriously underrated novels that may have passed under your radar.

No matter the type of apocalypse you’re looking for, this list contains the perfect story for you: whether it’s a vampiric plague devouring the earth,  nuclear warfare scouring the earth’s surface, flesh-hungry corpses rising from the dead, or even the world’s plants deciding to take on humanity.

Ready to explore the apocalypse?

Jump to section

Zombie Books

Read the guide: The 21 Best Zombie Books

Zombie books are stories in which the undead play a significant role in the plot. This can be anything from a full-fledged zombie apocalypse to a single zombie character. The important thing is that zombies are featured prominently in the story.

There are many different subgenres of zombie books, each with their own unique twists on the basic zombie story. For example, some zombie books focus on the human survivors of a zombie apocalypse and their struggle to survive. Others focus on the zombies themselves, telling the story from their perspective.

No matter what subgenre you prefer, there are plenty of great zombie books out there to choose from. Here are just a few of the best:

List of Zombie Books

  • Breathers — S.G. Browne

  • Cell – Stephen King (Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk)

  • Dead City — Joe McKinney

  • Feed — Mira Grant

  • I Am Legend – Richard Matheson (Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk)

  • Monster Island — David Wellington

  • My Life as a White Trash Zombie — Diana Rowland

  • Patient Zero — Johnathan Maberry

  • Pride and Prejudice and Zombies — Seth Grahame-Smith

  • The Forest of Hands and Teeth – Carrie Ryan (Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk)

  • The Girl with All the Gifts — M.R. Carey

  • The Living Dead — John Joseph Adams

  • The Passage – Justin Cronin (Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk)

  • The Twelve – Justin Cronin (Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk)

  • The Zombie Survival Guide – Max Brooks (Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk)

  • The Walking Dead — Robert Kirkman

  • Undead Girl Gang — Lily Anderson

  • Warm Bodies — Isaac Marion

  • World War Z – Max Brooks (Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk)

  • Zone One — Colson Whitehead

Nuclear War Books

Read the guide: The 19 Best Books About Nuclear War

Post-apocalyptic fiction was largely birthed during the cold war. The threat of nuclear war, hanging like the sword of Damocles, was a constant source of anxiety for many people, and as such, it was only natural that this fear would find its way into the stories being told.

If you’re looking for a novel that explores the aftermath of nuclear war, then these are some of the best post apocalyptic books around. These books offer a glimpse into the horror and heartbreak of nuclear warfare, and will leave you grateful that we’ve never had to experience it firsthand.

List of Nuclear War Books

EMP Books

Read the guide: EMP Books: 6 Essential Books About Electromagnetic Pulses

An EMP, or electromagnetic pulse, is a sudden burst of electromagnetic energy that can disable or destroy electronic equipment. An EMP attack is one of the most popular ways to bring about a post-apocalyptic scenario in fiction, as it offers a way to instantly cripple modern society.

If you’re looking for a novel that features an EMP attack, then these are some of the best post apocalyptic books around. These books offer a glimpse into the chaos and destruction that would follow such an event, and will leave you wondering just how prepared we really are for it.

List of EMP Books

  • Aftermath — Charles Sheffield

  • Going Home — A. American

  • Lights Out — David Crawford

  • One Second After – William R. Forstchen (Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk)

  • Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse — James Wesley Rawles

  • The Road — Cormac McCarthy

Climate Fiction Books

Read the guide: The 8 Best Climate Fiction Books

Climate change is one of the most pressing issues facing the world today, and it’s only natural that it would find its way into post-apocalyptic fiction. Climate fiction, or cli-fi, is a subgenre of post-apocalyptic fiction that explores the ways in which climate change could bring about the end of the world as we know it.

If you’re looking for a novel that features climate change as a central element, then these are some of the best post apocalyptic books around. These books offer a glimpse into the very real ways in which our changing climate could one day lead to catastrophic consequences:

List of Climate Fiction Books

  • New York 2140 — Kim Stanley Robinson

  • Parable of the Sower — Octavia Butler

  • The Death of Grass – John Christopher (Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk)

  • The Drowned World – JG Ballard (Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk)

  • The Fifth Season — N.K. Jemisin

  • The Green Priest — Ryan Law

  • The Windup Girl — Paolo Bacigalupi

Pandemic, Virus & Genetic Engineering Books

Read the guide: The 15 Best Pandemic Books

A pandemic is an outbreak of a disease that affects a large percentage of the population. A virus is a small infectious agent that can cause serious diseases. And genetic engineering is the process of manipulating genes to change the characteristics of an organism.

All three of these things have the potential to bring about a post-apocalyptic scenario, and as such, they’re popular elements in post-apocalyptic fiction. If you’re looking for a novel that features a pandemic, virus or genetic engineering gone wrong, then these are some of the best post apocalyptic books around.

List of Pandemic Books

Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy

Read the guide: The 11 Best Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy Books

The post-apocalyptic genre isn’t just limited to science fiction. There are plenty of great post-apocalyptic fantasy books out there as well.

If you’re looking for a novel that imagines a world after the fall of civilization, but with a healthy dose of magic and monsters thrown in, then these are some of the best post apocalyptic books around.

These books offer a unique take on the post-apocalyptic genre, and will leave you wondering just what other surprises the world has in store for us.

List of Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy Books:

  • Dying Earth — Jack Vance

  • Prince of Thorns — Mark Lawrence

  • Mistborn — Brandon Sanderson

  • Swan Song — Robert McCammon

  • The Amtrak Wars — Patrick Tilley

  • The Book of the New Sun — Gene Wolf

  • The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower #1) – Stephen King (Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk)

  • The Green Priest — Ryan Law

  • The Magic Goes Away — Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

  • The Prince of Nothing — R. Scott Bakker

  • The Warded Man — Peter V. Brett

  • The Waste Lands (The Dark Tower #3) – Stephen King (Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk)

Apocalyptic Romance Books

Read the guide: The 7 Steamiest Apocalyptic Romance Books

Yes, even the romance genre has been infected by the post-apocalyptic bug. If you’re looking for a novel that imagines a world after the fall of civilization, but with a healthy dose of love and relationships thrown in, then these are some of the best post apocalyptic books around.

These books show that love can bloom in the unlikeliest of places—even in barren, irradiated soil.

List of post-apocalyptic romance books

  • Angelfall — Susan Ee

  • Flesh — Kylie Scott

  • Last Light — Claire Kent

  • Pestilence — Laura Thalassa

  • Pride and Prejudice and Zombies — Seth Grahame-Smith

  • The Hunger Games — Suzanne Collins

  • Warm Bodies — Isaac Marion

SHTF Books

Read the guide: 10 SHTF Books You Need to Read Before the Apocalypse

SHTF stands for “shit hits the fan.” It’s a term that is often used in the prepper community to describe a scenario in which all hell breaks loose and society as we know it comes to an end.

If you’re looking for a novel that paints a vivid picture of what life might be like in a SHTF scenario, or if you’re after some solid non-fiction to help you hone your survival skills and prepare for the worst, then these are some of the best books around.

List of SHTF Books

  • One Second After — William R. Forstchen

  • The Death of Grass — John Christopher

  • The Zombie Survival Guide — Max Brooks

  • The Road — Cormac McCarthy

  • Level 7 — Mordecai Roshwald

  • SAS Survival Handbook — John 'Lofty' Wiseman

  • Where There is No Doctor — David Werner

  • Bushcraft 101 — Dave Canterbury

  • Nuclear War Survival Skills — Cresson H. Kearny

  • The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse — Fernando "FerFAL" Aguirre

Free Post-Apocalyptic Books

Read the guide: 5 Free Classic Post Apocalyptic Novels

These class end of the world stories are old enough to have lapsed into creative commons, which means you can download them for free. If you’re looking for a great post apocalyptic book to read, but don’t want to spend any money on it, then these are some of the best options around.

List of free post-apocalyptic books

Post-Apocalyptic Dystopian Novels

Read the guide: The 7 Best Post-Apocalyptic Dystopian Novels

A dystopian novel is one that imagines a future society that is oppressive or undesirable in some way. A post-apocalyptic dystopian novel is one that imagines a future society that has been through some sort of disaster, and as a result, is now oppressive or undesirable.

List of post-apocalyptic dystopian novels

  • Brave New World—Aldous Huxley

  • The Handmaid's Tale—Margaret Atwood

  • The Hunger Games—Suzanne Collins

  • The Passage—Justin Cronin

  • Oryx and Crake—Margaret Atwood

  • Parable of the Sower—Octavia E. Butler

  • Station Eleven—Emily St. John Mandel

Young Adult

Read the guide: The 11 Best Young Adult Post-Apocalyptic Books

The post-apocalyptic genre isn’t just for adults. There are plenty of great post-apocalyptic books aimed at young adults as well.

If you’re looking for a novel that imagines a world after the fall of civilization, but is still appropriate for younger readers—in terms of vocabulary and writing style, if not necessarily the subject matter covered—then these titles are well worth checking out.

List of Young Adult Post-Apocalyptic Books

  • Divergent — Veronica Roth

  • Life As We Knew It — Susan Beth Pfeffer

  • The 5th Wave — Rick Yancey

  • The Fever King — Victoria Lee

  • The Forest of Hands and Teeth — Carrie Ryan

  • The Hunger Games — Suzanne Collins

  • The Maze Runner — James Dashner

  • The Sound of Stars — Alechia Dow

  • Uglies — Scott Westerfield

  • War Girls — Tochi Onyebuchi

  • Wool — Hugh Howey

Post-Apocalyptic Heroines

Read the guide: The 11 Best Books with Post-Apocalyptic Heroines

Tired of the gun-toting male prepper trope? Me too, and thankfully, there are plenty of end-of-the-world stories with kickass women at their helm.

If you’re looking for a novel with a female lead character who is capable, resourceful and badass, then these are some of the best post-apocalyptic books around.

List of BOOKS WITH POST-APOCALYPTIC HEROINES

  • Daughters of the North — Sarah Hall

  • Divergent — Veronica Roth

  • Feed — Mira Grant

  • Life as We Knew It — Susan Beth Pfeffer

  • Parable of the Sower — Octavia Butler

  • The Book of the Unnamed Midwife — Meg Elison

  • The Girl with All the Gifts — M R Carey

  • The Reapers Are the Angels — Alden Bell

  • The Year of the Flood — Margaret Atwood

  • Station Eleven — Emily St. John Mandel

  • Uglies — Scott Westerfield

Book Series

Read the guide: The 11 Best Post-Apocalyptic Book Series

Sometimes a single book isn't enough to scratch the armageddon itch. In that case, you're in luck, because there are plenty of great post-apocalyptic book series out there.

If you want to immerse yourselves in a long, expansive book series spanning multiple novels, then these are book series are all but guaranteed to keep you entertained for hours.

List of Post-Apocalyptic Book Series

  • The Dark Tower — Stephen King (8 books)

  • Silo — Hugh Howey (3 books)

  • Maddaddam Trilogy — Margaret Atwood (3 books)

  • The Forest of Hands and Teeth — Carrie Ryan (3 books)

  • Warm Bodies — Isaac Marion (4 books)

  • Newsflesh — Mira Grant (3 books)

  • The Passage — Justin Cronin (3 books)

  • The Three Californias Trilogy — Kim Stanley Robinson (3 books)

  • The Walking Dead — Robert Kirkman (32 books)

  • The Book of the New Sun — Gene Wolf (4 books)

  • The Green Priest — Ryan Law (2 books)

Ryan Law

Ryan Law is the creator of Ash Tales and the author of the post-apocalyptic fantasy series The Rainmaker Writings.

Ryan has a 15-year long obsession with the end of the world, and has spent that time researching everything from homesteading to nuclear fallout patterns.

Ryan is a wilderness hiker and has trained with bushcraft and survival experts around the UK.

Previous

The Ultimate Guide to Post-Apocalyptic Fiction
Next

The 50 Best Post Apocalyptic Movies